Ancient barbarians took drugs before battle, spoons suggest (www.newsweek.com)
from fossilesque@mander.xyz to archaeology@mander.xyz on 06 Dec 00:52
https://mander.xyz/post/21570900

#archaeology

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Kolanaki@yiffit.net on 06 Dec 00:53 next collapse

small spoon-like objects

Did they also find needles and rubber tubing? 🤔

frankenswine@lemmy.world on 06 Dec 01:02 collapse

and lighters 🤭

dumbass@leminal.space on 06 Dec 01:19 next collapse

It’s hard to shoot up in a back alley when back alleys aren’t a thing yet.

Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world on 06 Dec 02:00 collapse

I think you solved the mystery of ancient Newgrange

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d63add2a-572a-4606-b80f-6f09ae31c808.webp">

dumbass@leminal.space on 06 Dec 02:55 collapse

Yeah that looks like a good place to shoot up heroin.

Maalus@lemmy.world on 06 Dec 11:30 collapse

They used torches for that.

Drusas@fedia.io on 06 Dec 01:57 next collapse

"Barbarians"? Really?

clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works on 06 Dec 02:22 collapse

Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbier?

ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works on 06 Dec 02:04 next collapse

Modern ones do too, quite often.

captainlezbian@lemmy.world on 06 Dec 03:44 next collapse

So Persians? Gauls? Romans? Latins? Goths?…

Barbarians are one of the most non specific groups

HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com on 06 Dec 05:10 next collapse

no like the rpg class /s

witty_username@feddit.nl on 06 Dec 06:46 collapse

Transalpine riffraff, the lot of em

captainlezbian@lemmy.world on 06 Dec 11:19 collapse

Are you deigning to tell me that the cisalpine Gauls are civilized?

AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world on 06 Dec 03:45 next collapse

So they say this study is in Praehistorische Zeitschrift, but they don’t link to it, or give the issue, or the date, or the title of the paper, or the names of the authors? And they don’t ask any other historians or archeologists for an opinion?

SplashJackson@lemmy.ca on 06 Dec 05:31 next collapse

Finally someone who cares for journalist integrity

5190tent@lemmy.world on 06 Dec 10:52 collapse

www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/…/html?srs…

The title of the study is “In a narcotic trance, or stimulants in Germanic communities of the Roman period”

Its literally the first result if you Google “Praehistorische Zeitschrift Stimulants”. It’s pretty easy to find.

AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world on 06 Dec 15:13 collapse

Thanks—I made the mistake of going directly to the journal’s site and searching there.

Some impressions after quickly reading the paper:

  • They start with the assumption that iron-age warriors took stimulants before battle (based on a comparison to other selected cultures, rather than any direct evidence) and look for any possible relevant artifacts, rather than starting with the artifacts and trying to deduce their use from the context of the finds

  • They present no corroborating evidence like chemical residues or association with containers that might have held stimulants. They do mention a type of wooden box found in other graves, but no suggestion that the occurrences are correlated; they also mention metal containers found in female graves—but since the spoonlike artifacts are only found with male burials, there’s clearly a negative correlation.

  • If stimulant use were as widespread as the prevalence of the artifacts suggests, you’d expect some mention by contemporary Romans or Greeks (especially given the famous description of cannabis use among the Scythians by Herodotus, and the fondness of later historians for imitating him), or some survival into medieval practice or folklore

  • They mention a number of psychoactive plants based on their potential availability, not evidence of actual use—and not all of them are stimulants, or appropriate for inhalation.

  • There’s no suggestion that the spoons were a standard size, as would be expected if they were intended for measuring drug doses.

In short, the paper seems a lot more speculative than the Newsweek article implies.

AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works on 06 Dec 04:07 next collapse

Well yeah, Schwarzenegger has admitted to being on steroids as they were legal at the time.

TheSlad@sh.itjust.works on 06 Dec 12:08 collapse

If spoons are suggesting things too you, maybe you are already on drugs.